7 days in Colorado
Historically, blogs have been personal. Here’s my personal blog article.
My older brother, Björn, came to visit me for 7 days in Colorado. We killed it. We hadn’t seen eachother for about 3 years and 7 days was just about right. It gives you enough time to do a lot of the things you want to do and talk about everything you need to talk about.
We started off in Boulder and I gave him the same Boulder tour, for the most part, that I give my tour guide clients on the Comprehensive Boulder Tour. We went to all the spots and took the pictures, went to the flat irons, Pearl St, met a Dane who we hung out with for the rest of the night, and just caught up. It felt good to speak Swedish again because I needed practice.
The next day we went straight to Steamboat. We walked around for a bit, bathed in the hot springs at Old Town Hot Springs, had long conversations with people there, which you most certainly do not do in Sweden, and then left. Steamboat is the best ski town in Colorado, in my opinion. It’s not half as posh as Vail, for instance. The feel there is comfortable and homey, but still a little exotic with its one street, diners, cattle ranches, high end shops and restaurants…etc. It’s got it all. Plus, it supposedly produces more gold medal olympic athletes than any other city in the US.
On the third day, Garden of the Gods in Colorado Springs. The park there is so gorgeous, you’ve got to go see it. Really breathtaking. The city is not much to speak of, but I’ve been to a couple rodeos there and they’re cool. We did eat an excellent burger at The Green Line. Maybe one of the best I’ve ever had. In addition to being a little bit of a hot springs junkie, I’m also a burger fiend. Only once in a while because it’s unhealthy…but I can put’em down.
Next day and the day after that…we were dead. We went to Church on Easter. The day after, I showed him CU Boulder and he bought a hat.
The day after that: Hot Sulpur Springs and Vail. These are within arm’s reach of one another so we just did it. Hot Sulphur Springs was really great. The town is totally dead and the springs are pretty run down. Nonetheless, they are cheap and not treated with chlorine and that’s what is most important to me. We were probably there for 2 hours just jumping from pool to pool, talking to a couple people and letting all our problems drain away. Just like at Steamboat, when we got out, we looked about 10 years younger.
Next, we hoofed it on over to Vail. Vail is not my style. Really, so posh that its just not fun for me. Designer everything, 2 bdrm condos for $2m, poorly behaved kids running around everywhere and parents who don’t care…etc. I don’t like it.
Next: Rocky Mountain National Park. That was a great day. As usual, Björn did his work in the morning and I got a workout in, then we got some food in us and then we left. We got there at noon or so, went straight to the Four Lakes Trail and killed it. In fact, we did 5 lakes instead. Lake Haiyaha is not one of the four, but it is the prettiest of all of them at the park, so we did it as well. Here are some pictures:
Last day: back to Colorado springs, up Pikes Peak, and then to Royal George Park. Royal Gorge was actually worth it. It’s a pretty impressive canyon that you ride over in a gondola and then walk back over on the US’s highest suspension bridge.
All in all, 7 days was just right or close to it. We had planned to do a short Yellowstone trip, but the southern entrance was closed, so no go. We went on an outing every single day except one. When you come here, that’s really what you want to do. Get a lay of the land, experience all Colorado has to offer. That’s what I try to give my clients: a full picture of what Boulder/CO is. Frame it.
